That's right! Chapter 21 of The Harvest is done: The end of this twenty year writing saga is near! The gods are also conspiring in my favor this morning because Aaron slept until 9a.m., and instead of going to a local corn festival, we are going to stay in, watch cartoons, and go out to eat, then shop. That means I will be able to crank out one more chapter this morning.

This morning, I also decided to boost the giveaway on my Facebook author site: https://www.facebook.com/drmariajestrada/. Supposedly, Facebook is going to reach over 400 people. I will let you now how it goes. Though, to be fair, more people are being reached, and I just posted it ten minutes ago. One of my metric goals is to get 100 new followers by September. I have 68 new ones so far, and yes, they are mostly other writers. We have to stick together, right?

John Green who I've promoted before, recommended hometown reads as another venue to grow a reader base: https://hometownreads.com/books/the-long-walk-with-paranoia-the-corrido-of-andrea-quinta.I posted links to my Amazon books there, too. Not the books obviously but ways of getting back to Amazon, much like Goodreads. However, the site aims at promoting local authors, so they also link the books to local bookstores and libraries. I'm working on that too. It is a great cyber-project, and I hope to buy a t-shirt to promote it. I have enjoyed looking at other local authors' books. The funny or not so funny thing is that I can pick out with almost 100% accuracy those books that are self-published because of the covers.

Well, that's enough marketing and promoting for the day. Oh, the Labor Day Weekend giveaway is going well! The giveaway is going through Monday. What? Did you miss my previous ads or blog posts? Well, you can get La Bruja del Barrio Loco on Amazon for free. If you like what you read, give it a short, positive review! In the future, I plan on doing a Black Friday price reduction on printed and e-books for the week, but first, back to my novel.

Stay the course! Even if it takes 20 years+ to finish your novel, ahem. #Resist

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Dr. Jesú Estrada,Pen Name: María J. EstradaChicago, IL

Not Your Abuelita's Folktales giveaway is going on now. You can enter here. You must be a U.S. resident; I know that rule sucks.

You can also follow me on Twitter @drmariajestrada. I give away a book to celebrate every 1,000 followers.

*********************MARIA J. ESTRADA is an English college professor of Composition, Literature, and her favorite, Creative Writing. She grew up in the desert outside of Yuma, Arizona in the real Barrio de Los Locos, a barrio comprised of new Mexican immigrants and first-generation Chicanos. Drawing from this setting and experiences, she writes like a loca every minute she can—all while magically balancing her work and family obligations. She lives in Chicago’s south side with her wonderfully supportive husband, two remarkable children, and two mischievous cats.

My next book coming out is La Bruja in the Orchard, in Spanish and a second edition of the English version.